Iran’s foreign ministry dismissed U.S. accusations on Saturday of an alleged plot by Tehran to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump as “totally unfounded.” Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei issued a statement denying any Iranian involvement in assassination attempts targeting American officials, following charges announced by U.S. prosecutors.
On Friday, the U.S. Justice Department unveiled an alleged Iranian plot to kill Trump, charging an individual who claimed he was instructed by an Iranian government official to plan the assassination of the Republican president-elect shortly before the election.
According to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan, the plan came to light when Farhad Shakeri, accused of acting as an asset for Iran, disclosed details to investigators. Shakeri, who previously served time in U.S. prisons for robbery, reportedly has a network of associates linked to Tehran, used for surveillance and murder-for-hire activities.
Shakeri claimed he was directed by a contact in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard to prioritize planning Trump’s assassination within a seven-day window in September. Shakeri said the official emphasized that “money’s not an issue” and suggested that if the plan couldn’t be executed before the election, it could resume afterward, assuming Trump’s potential defeat would make him an easier target.
Currently, Shakeri remains in Iran. Authorities also arrested two other men allegedly recruited by Shakeri to target prominent Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, a frequent target of Iranian murder-for-hire plots thwarted by U.S. law enforcement.
In Berlin for an event, Alinejad expressed shock at the repeated threats against her. She later posted on social media, writing: “I came to America to practice my First Amendment right to freedom of speech — I don’t want to die. I deserve to be safe. I urge the US government to protect America’s national security.”
Shakeri, originally from Afghanistan and deported after serving a 14-year sentence in the U.S., reportedly discussed other alleged targets with investigators, including two Jewish-Americans in New York and Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka. He claimed he cooperated with FBI agents in a series of recorded interviews to help secure a reduced sentence for an associate detained in the U.S. However, officials noted that while some of Shakeri’s statements were inaccurate, his claims about the Trump plot and Iran’s financial commitment were deemed credible.
The revelation, coming days after Trump’s election victory over Kamala Harris, underscores Iran’s continued efforts to target U.S. officials on American soil, according to federal officials. Last summer, the Justice Department charged another individual linked to Iran in a murder-for-hire plot against American officials.
